Leaving Hospital setting for Home Infusion Nursing?

I haven't personally done it but a good friend of mine left here to do home infusions and she absolutely loves it! She does have to take some call and if there's a problem she does have to go out no matter the time of night or weekend or holiday. Of course she's not on call everyday, more like once a week and rotating weekends and holidays.

I left the hospital (and traditional wound care visits) for infusion nursing. I absolutely love it! The technical aspects are very interesting, and the flexibility is wonderful. Even more importantly, I can spend time educating my patients in an in depth way. The rate of pay is better in my area (NY) for home infusions vs. hospital nursing as well.

Jenn

I do both. I spend 70-80 % on a hospital-based PICC/IV Team and 20-30% doing home infusion. I enjoy both immensely. Even though they are similar in some nursing aspects in a lot of ways they are different. In the home infusion arena you are usually on your own...so you have to enjoy being independent.Of course there is an agency,but in the home you make all the decisions so you need to be very confidant in your assessments,skills and decision making process. After a wild hospital shift the day before I quite enjoy this. As a steady diet I think I would miss the camaraderie of the hospital setting. If you have some office time and staff meetings etc at your agency that will help. The stresses are different. Personally,I get a little stressed about the following: locating homes that I have not been to,traffic issues,pts getting annoyed or angry at you b/c you were not there on the dot (always give a time range),late medication or supply delivery,and productivity (sometimes difficult to account for every minute). The clinical issues never get to me as I am a very experienced infusion specialist. In home infusion you can leave 5 min late and its not a big deal,you can get a cup of coffee on the way...you can set up your own daily schedule...you actually have time to take care of the patients and perform excellent teaching......you get more attached to your long term patients and they to you...you do not spend half of your day on the phone....the patients seem less stressed and more grateful than hospital pts. So there are many pros and cons. It is a wonderful change if the hospital setting has worn you down. Best of luck with your new endeavors.